While high-speed rail is usually designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. For instance, the French mail service La Poste owns a few special TGV trains for carrying postal freight.

Infrastructure: track built specially for high-speed travel or specially upgraded for high-speed travel.

Minimum Speed Limit: Minimum speed of 250 km/h (155 mph) on lines specially built for high speed and of order 200 km/h (124 mph) on existing lines which have been specially upgraded. This must apply to at least one section of the line. Rolling stock must have a minimum speed of at least 200 km/h (124 mph) to be considered high speed.

Operating conditions: Rolling stock must be designed alongside its infrastructure for complete compatibility, safety and quality of service.[1]

The International Union of Railways (UIC) prefers to use "definitions" (plural) because they consider that there is no single standard definition of high-speed rail, nor even standard usage of the terms ("high speed", or "very high speed"). They make use of the European EC Directive 96/48, stating that high speed is a combination of all the elements which constitute the system: infrastructure, rolling stock and operating conditions.[1]

Some nations[which?] have domestic standards which may vary from the international ones.

The International Union of Railways states that high-speed rail is a set of unique features, not merely a train travelling above a particular speed. Many conventionally hauled trains are able to reach 200 km/h (124 mph) in commercial service but are not considered to be high-speed trains. These include the French SNCFIntercités and German DBIC.

Railways were the first form of rapid land transportation and had an effective monopoly on passenger traffic until the development of the motor car and airliners in the early-mid 20th century. Speed had always been an important factor for railroads and they constantly tried to achieve higher speeds and decrease journey times. Rail transportation in the late 19th Century was not much slower than non high-speed trains today and many railroads regularly operated relatively fast express trains which averaged speeds of around 100 km/h (62 mph).[2]

On 23 October 1903, the S&H-equipped railcar achieved a speed of 206.7 km/h (128.4 mph) and on 27 October the AEG-equipped railcar achieved 210.2 km/h (130.6 mph).[3] These trains demonstrated the feasibility of electric high-speed rail however regularly scheduled electric high-speed rail travel was still more than 30 years away.

Following the success of the Hamburg line, the steam-powered Henschel-Wegmann Train was developed and introduced in June 1936 for service from Berlin to Dresden, with a regular top speed of 160 km/h (100 mph).

Further development allowed the usage of these "Fliegenden Züge" (flying trains) on a rail network across Germany.[4] The "Diesel-Schnelltriebwagen-Netz" had been in the planning since 1934 but it never reached its envisaged size.

All high-speed service stopped in August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of World War II.[5]

On 26 May 1934, one year after Fliegender Hamburger introduction, the Burlington Railroad's set an average speed record on long distance with their new streamlined train, the Zephyr, at 124 km/h (77 mph) with peaks at 185 km/h (115 mph). The Zephyr was made of stainless steel, and like the Fliegender Hamburger, was diesel powered, articulated with Jacobs bogies, and could reach 160 km/h (99 mph) as commercial speed.

The new service was inaugurated at the end of year, 11 November 1934, between Kansas City and Lincoln, but at lower speed than the record, with an average speed of 74 km/h (46 mph).[6]

In 1935, the Milwaukee Road introduced the Morning Hiawatha service, hauled at 160 km/h (99 mph) by steam locomotives. These were the last "high-speed" trains to use steam power. In 1936, the Twin Cities Zephyr entered service, from Chicago to Minneapolis, with an average speed of 101 km/h (63 mph).[7]

The German high-speed service was followed in Italy in 1938 with an electric-multiple-unit ETR 200, designed for 200 km/h (124 mph), between Bologna and Naples. It too reached 160 km/h (99 mph) in commercial service, and achieved a world mean speed record of 203 km/h (126 mph) near Milan in 1938.

In Great Britain in the same year, the streamlined steam locomotiveMallard achieved the official world speed record for steam locomotives at 125.88 mph (202.58 km/h). The external combustion engines and boilers on steam locomotives were large, heavy and time consuming to maintain, and the days of steam for high speed were numbered.

In 1945, a Spanish engineer, Alejandro Goicoechea, developed a streamlined articulated train able to run on existing tracks at higher speeds than contemporary passenger trains. This was achieved by providing the locomotive and cars with a unique axle system that used one axle set per car end, connected by a Y-bar coupler. Amongst other advantages, the centre of mass was only half as high as usual.[8] This system became famous under the name of Talgo (Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol), and for half a century was the main Spanish provider of high-speed trains.

In the early 1950s, the French National Railway started to receive their new powerful CC 7100 electric locomotives, and began to study and evaluate running at very high speeds. In 1954, the CC 7121 hauling a full train achieved a record 243 km/h (151 mph) during a test on standard track. The next year, two specially tuned electric locomotives, the CC 7107 and the prototype BB 9001, broke previous speed records, reaching respectively 320 km/h (199 mph) and 331 km/h (206 mph), again on standard track.[9] For the first time, 300 km/h (186 mph) was surpassed, allowing the idea of regular very high-speed services to be developed.

New engineering studies began for this purpose. Especially, during the 1955 records, very dangerous hunting oscillation, the swaying of the bogies which at high speed leads to dynamic instability and potential derailment, was discovered, which led to the use of yaw dampers to solve this problem, enabling safe running speeds above 300 km/h (186 mph) today. Important research was also made about "current harnessing" at high-speed by the pantographs, that was solved 20 years later by the Zébulon TGV's prototype.

With some 45 million people living in the densely populated Tokyo-to-Osaka corridor, congestion on road and rail became a serious problem after World War II,[10] and the Japanese government began thinking seriously about a new high-speed rail service.

Japan in the 1950s was a populous, resource-limited nation that for security reasons did not want to import petroleum, but needed a way to transport its millions of people in and between cities.

Japanese National Railways (JNR) engineers then began to study the development of a high-speed regular mass transit service. In 1955, they were present at the Lille's Electrotechnology Congress in France, and during a 6-month visit, the head engineer of JNR accompanied the deputy director Marcel Tessier at the DETE (SNCF Electric traction study department).[9] JNR engineers returned to Japan with a number of ideas and technologies they would use on their future trains, including alternating current for rail traction, and international standard gauge.[citation needed]

In 1957, the engineers at the private Odakyu Electric Railway in Greater Tokyo area launched the Odakyu 3000 series SE EMU. This EMU set a world record for narrow gauge trains at 145 km/h (90 mph), giving the Odakyu engineers confidence they could safely and reliably build even faster trains at standard gauge.[10] The original Japanese railways generally used narrow gauge, but the increased stability offered by widening the rails to standard gauge would make very high-speed rail much simpler, and thus standard gauge was adopted for high-speed service.

The new service, named Shinkansen (meaning new trunk line) would provide a new alignment, 25% wider standard gauge, continuously welded rails between Tokyo and Osaka using new rolling stock, designed for 250 km/h (155 mph). However, the World Bank, whilst supporting the project, considered the design of the equipment as unproven for that speed, and set the maximum speed to 210 km/h (130 mph).[9]

After initial feasibility tests, the plan was fast-tracked and construction of the first section of the line started on 20 April 1959.[11] In 1963, on the new track, test runs hit a top speed of 256 km/h (159 mph). Five years after the beginning of the construction work, in October 1964, just in time for the Olympic Games, the first modern high-speed rail, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, was opened between the two cities.

The first Shinkansen trains, the 0 Series Shinkansen, built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries—in English often called "Bullet Trains", after the original Japanese name Dangan Ressha(弾丸列車?)—outclassed the earlier fast trains in commercial service. They traversed the 515 km (320 mi) distance in 3 hours 10 minutes, reaching a top speed of 210 km/h (130 mph) and sustaining an average speed of 162.8 km/h (101.2 mph) with stops at Nagoya and Kyoto.

But the speed was only a part of the Shinkansen revolution: the Shinkansen offered high-speed rail travel to the masses. The first Bullet trains had 12 cars and later versions had up to 16,[12] and double-deck trains further increased the capacity.[13][14]

After three years, more than 100 million passengers had used the trains, and the milestone of the first one billion passengers was reached in 1976. In 1972, the line was extended a further 161 km (100 mi), and further construction has resulted in the network expanding to 2,387 km (1,483 mi) as at March 2013, with a further 776 km (482 mi) of extensions currently under construction and due to open in stages between March 2015 and 2035. The cumulative patronage on the entire system since 1964 is over 10 billion, the equivalent of approximately 150% of the world's population, without a single train passenger fatality. (Suicides, passengers falling off the platforms, and industrial accidents have resulted in fatalities).[15]

Since their introduction, Japan's Shinkansen systems have been undergoing constant improvement, not only increasing line speeds. Over a dozen train models have been produced, addressing diverse issues such as tunnel boom noise, vibration, aerodynamic drag, lines with lower patronage ("Mini shinkansen"), earthquake and typhoon safety, braking distance, problems due to snow, and energy consumption (newer trains are twice as energy efficient as the initial ones despite greater speeds).[16]

In Europe, high-speed rail began during the International Transport Fair in Munich in June 1965, when Dr Öpfering, the director of Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railways), performed 347 demonstrations at 200 km/h (124 mph) between Munich and Augsburg by DB Class 103 hauled trains. The same year the Aérotrain, a French hovercraft monorail train prototype, reached 200 km/h (124 mph) within days of operation.

After the success of the Japanese Shinkansen in 1964, at 210 km/h (130 mph), the German demonstrations up to 200 km/h (124 mph) in 1965, and the proof-of-concept jet-powered Aérotrain, SNCF still ran its fastest trains at only 160 km/h (99 mph).

In 1966, French Infrastructure Minister Edgar Pisani consulted engineers and gave the French National Railways twelve months to raise speeds to 200 km/h (124 mph).[9] The classic line Paris–Toulouse was chosen, and fitted, to support 200 km/h (124 mph) rather than 140 km/h (87 mph). Some improvements were set, notably the signals system, development of on board "in-cab" signalling system, and curve revision.

The next year, in May 1967, a regular service at 200 km/h (124 mph) was inaugurated by the TEELe Capitole between Paris and Toulouse, with specially adapted SNCF Class BB 9200 locomotives hauling classic UIC cars, and a full red livery.

At the same time, the Aérotrain prototype 02 reached 345 km/h (214 mph) on a half-scale experimental track. In 1969, it achieved 422 km/h (262 mph) on the same track. On 5 March 1974, the full-scale commercial prototype Aérotrain I80HV, jet powered, reached 430 km/h (267 mph).

In 1976 the British Rail introduced a high-speed service able to reach 125 mph (201 km/h) using the InterCity 125diesel-electric train sets under the brand name of High Speed Train (HST). It was the fastest diesel-powered train in regular service and it improved upon its 100 mph (161 km/h) forerunners in speed and acceleration.[citation needed] The train was as a reversible multi-car set having driving power-cars at both ends and a fixed formation of passenger cars between them. Journey times were reduced by an hour for example on the East Coast Main Line, and passenger numbers increased.[citation needed]

The next year, in 1977, Germany finally introduced a new service at 200 km/h (124 mph), on the Munich-Augsburg line. That same year, Italy inaugurated the first European High-Speed line, the Direttissima between Roma and Florence, designed for 250 km/h (155 mph), but used by FS E444 hauled train at 200 km/h (124 mph). This year also saw the abandonment for political reasons of the Aérotrain project, in favour of the TGV.

Following the 1955 records, two divisions of the SNCF began to study high-speed services. In 1964, the DETMT (petrol-engine traction studies department of SNCF) planned the use of gas turbines : a diesel-powered railcar is modified with a gas-turbine, and is called "TGV" (Turbotrain Grande Vitesse).[9] It reached 230 km/h (143 mph) in 1967, and served as a basis for the future Turbotrain and the real TGV. In the same time, the new "SNCF Research Department", created in 1966, was studying some projects, especially a project code-named "C03": "Railways possibilities on new infrastructure (tracks)".[9]

In 1969, the "C03 project" was transferred to public administration while a contract with Alsthom was signed for them to build two gas-turbine high-speed train prototypes, named "TGV 001". The prototype consisted of a set of five carriages, plus a power car at each end, both powered by two gas-turbine engines. The sets used Jacobs bogies, which reduce drag and increase safety.

In 1970, the DETMT's Turbotrain began operations on the Paris-Cherbourg line, and operated at 160 km/h (99 mph) despite being designed for usage at 200 km/h (120 mph). It used gas-turbine powered multiple elements and was the basis for future experimentation with TGV services, including shuttle services and regular high rate schedules.[9]

In 1971, the "C03" project, now known as "TGV Sud-Est", was validated by the government, against the Bertin's Aerotrain.[9] Until this date, there was a rivalry between the French Land Settlement Commission (DATAR), supporting the Aérotrain, and the SNCF and its ministry, supporting conventional rail. The "C03 project" included a new High-Speed line between Paris and Lyon, with new multi-engined trains running at 260 km/h (162 mph). At that time, the classic Paris-Lyon line was already congested and a new line was required; this busy corridor, neither too short (where car is preferred) nor too long (where planes are better), was the best choice for the new service.

The 1973 oil shock substantially increases oil prices. In the continuity of the De Gaulle "energy self-sufficiency" and nuclear-energy policy, a ministry decision switched the future TGV from now costly gas-turbine to full electric energy in 1974. An electric railcar named Zébulon was developed for testing at very high speeds, reaching a speed of 306 km/h (190 mph). It was used to develop pantographs capable of withstanding speeds of over 300 km/h (186 mph).[9]

After intensive tests with the gas-turbine "TGV 001" prototype, and the electric "Zébulon", in 1977, the SNCF placed an order to the group Alstom–Francorail–MTE for 87 TGV Sud-Est trainsets.[9] They used the "TGV 001" concept, with a permanently coupled set of eight cars, sharing "Jacobs bogies", and hauled by two electric power-cars, one at each end.

In 1981, the first section of the new Paris–Lyon High-Speed line was inaugurated, with a 260 km/h (162 mph) top speed (then 270 km/h (168 mph) soon after). With a far greater top speed, a new dedicated high-speed line, and a complete compatibility with existing old lines, the TGV offered the ability to join every city in the country, using alternatively standard and high-speed line, in a shorter time than ever.[9] After the introduction of the TGV on some routes, air traffic on these routes decreased, or even disappeared.[9] At the same time, the TGV made history with its multiple, highly publicized speed records: in 1981 with a record at 380 km/h (236 mph), in 1990 at 515 km/h (320 mph), and then in 2007 at 574 km/h (357 mph).

Following the French TGV, in 1991 Germany was the second country in Europe to inaugurate a high-speed rail service, with the launch of the Intercity-Express (ICE) on the new Hannover-Würzburg high-speed railway, operating at a top speed of 280 km/h (174 mph). The German ICE train was similar to the TGV, with dedicated streamlined power cars at both ends, but a variable number of trailers between them. Unlike the TGV, the trailers had two conventional bogies per car, and could be uncoupled, allowing the train to be lengthened or shortened. This introduction was the result of ten years of study with the ICE-V prototype, which broke the world speed record in 1988, reaching 406 km/h (252 mph).

In 2005, the Spanish Government announced an ambitious plan, (PEIT 2005–2020)[19] envisioning that by 2020, 90 percent of the population would live within 50 km (30 mi) of a station served by AVE. Spain began building the largest HSR network in Europe: as of 2011, five of the new lines have opened (Madrid-Zaragoza-Lleida-Tarragona-Barcelona, Córdoba- Malaga, Madrid-Toledo, Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid, Madrid-Cuenca-Valencia) and another 2,219 km (1,379 mi) were under construction.[20]

Amtrak started testing two trains, the Swedish X2000 and the German ICE 1, in the same year along its fully electrified segment between New York City and Washington DC. The officials favored the X2000 as it had a tilting mechanism. However, the Swedish manufacturer never bid on the contract as the burdensome United States railroad regulations required them to heavily modify the train resulting in added weight among other things. Eventually, a custom-made tilting train derived from TGV, manufactured by Alstom and Bombardier, won the contract and was put into service in December 2000.

The new service was named "Acela Express" and linked Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC. The service did not meet the 3-hour travel time objective, between Boston and New York City. The time was 3 hours and 24 minutes as it partially ran on regular lines, limiting its average speed, with a maximum speed of 241 km/h (150 mph) being reached on a small section of its route through Rhode Island and Massachusetts.[21][22]

For four decades from its opening in 1964, the Japanese Shinkansen was the only high-speed rail service outside of Europe. In the 2000s a number of new high-speed rail services started operating in East Asia.

In South Korea, Korea Train Express (KTX) services were launched on 1 April 2004, on the Seoul-Busan corridor, Korea's busiest traffic corridor, between the two largest cities. In 1982, it represented 65.8% of South Korea's population, a number that grew to 73.3% by 1995, along with 70% of freight traffic and 66% of passenger traffic. With both the Gyeongbu Expressway and Korail's Gyeongbu Line congested as of the late 1970s, the government saw the pressing need for another form of transportation.[23]

Construction began on the high-speed line from Seoul to Busan in 1992 with the first commercial service launching in 2004. Top speed for trains in regular service is currently 305 km/h (190 mph), though the infrastructure is designed for 350 km/h (217 mph). The initial rolling stock was based on Alstom's TGV Réseau, and was partly built in Korea. The domestically developed HSR-350x, which achieved 352.4 km/h (219.0 mph) in tests, resulted in a second type of high-speed trains now operated by Korail, the KTX Sancheon. The next generation KTX train, HEMU-430X, achieved 421.4 km/h (262 mph) in 2013, making South Korea the world's fourth country after France, Japan, and China to develop a high-speed train running on conventional rail above 420 km/h (261 mph).

High-speed rail was introduced to China only in the last 20 years but has rapidly developed into the world's most extensive network. As of December 2013, the country had 11,028 km (6,852 mi) of track in operation, accounting for about half of the world's total at the time.[24] In 2013, high-speed trains carried 530 million passenger-trips, about one quarter of all train trips taken in China that year.[25]

State planning for high-speed railway began in the early 1990s, and the country's first high-speed rail line, the Qinhuangdao–Shenyang Passenger Railway, was built in 1999 and opened to commercial operation in 2003. This line could accommodate commercial trains running at up to 200 km/h (124 mph). Planners also considered Germany's Transrapidmaglev technology and built the Shanghai Maglev Train, which runs on a 30.5 km (19.0 mi) track linking the city and its international airport. The maglev train service began operating in 2004 with trains reaching a top speed of 431 km/h (268 mph), and remains the fastest high-speed service in the world. Maglev, however, was not adopted nationally and all subsequent expansion features high-speed rail on conventional tracks.

In the 1990s, China's domestic train production industry designed and produced a series of high-speed train prototypes but few were used in commercial operation and none were mass-produced. The Chinese Ministry of Railways (MOR) then arranged for the purchase of foreign high-speed trains from French, German, and Japanese manufacturers along with certain technology transfers and joint ventures with domestic trainmakers. In 2007, the MOR introduced the China Railways High-speed (CRH) service, also known as "Harmony Trains" (和谐号), using trains with foreign technology.

A collision of high-speed trains on 23 July 2011 in eastern China, which killed 40 and injured 195, raised concerns about operational safety. A credit crunch later that year slowed the construction of new lines. But by 2012, the high-speed rail boom had renewed with new lines and new rolling stock by domestic producers that had indigenized foreign technology. On 25 December 2012, China opened the world's longest high-speed rail line, which runs 2,208 km (1,372 mi) from the country's capital Beijing in the north to Shenzhen on the southern coast.[26][27][28] The network is still rapidly expanding to create the 4+4 National High Speed Rail Grid by 2015.[29]

Taiwan High Speed Rail's first and only HSR line opened for service on 5 January 2007, using Japanese trains with a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph). The service traverses 345 kilometres (214 mi) from Taipei Railway Station to Xinzuoying Station in as little as 96 minutes. Once THSR began operations, almost all passengers switched from airlines flying parallel routes[30] while road traffic was also reduced.[31]

In 2009, Turkey inaugurated a high-speed service between Ankara and Eskişehir, becoming the first rail line outside East Asia and Europe to operate a regular high-speed passenger rail service.[32] This has been followed up by a Ankara - Konya route, and the Eskişehir line has been extended to Istanbul (Asian part). Saudi Arabia plans to begin service on the Middle East's first high speed line, its first route from Medina to King Abdullah Economic City in 2015.[33] Other lines are under construction (including Turkish Europe) but not due for revenue service for some years. (Lines shown on map of Europe below, though in West Asia)

As defined by Europe and UIC, generally the high-speed rail is a set including a high-speed rolling-stock and a dedicated high-speed line.

Japan was the first nation to build a totally new and dedicated lines and network for its Shinkansen. It was followed by France, then Germany, Spain, etc. Most countries today with high-speed rail have dedicated high-speed tracks. Notable exceptions are the USA and Russia. In certain cases, in particular in England in the 1970s for the HST, and in China recently, classic old lines have been upgraded to support new high-speed trains, often up to 200 km/h (124 mph). For unconventional trains, such as Aérotrains and Maglev, the use of viaduct-dedicated tracks is necessary.

Continuous welded rail is generally used to reduce track vibrations and misalignment. Almost all high-speed lines are electrically driven via overhead cables, have in-cab signalling, and use advanced switches using very low entry and frog angles.

Constrictions, such as at-grade crossings, where lines intersect other lines and/or roadways are eliminated. For this reason, Japan and China typically build their high-speed lines on elevated viaducts. High-speed lines avoid tight curves, which reduce speed. Curve radius is typically above 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi), and for lines supporting 350 km/h (217 mph) speeds, typically at 7 to 9 kilometres (4.3 to 5.6 mi). The lines may rest on traditional sleeper and ballast or on concrete tiles and fences prevent access to the tracks on foot.

In France, high-speed lines use standard gauge like the rest of the network, but are used only by passenger TGV, and by the Postal TGV.

In Germany, high-speed lines are shared between ICE, international high-speed trains, regional trains and freight trains.

In China, high-speed lines at speeds between 200 and 250 km/h (124 and 155 mph) may carry freight or passengers., Lines operating at speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph) are used only by passenger CRH trains.[35]

In Japan and Spain, high-speed lines use standard gauge as opposed to the rest of their respective networks and are thus dedicated to high-speed trains.

Sharing a line between fast and slow traffic reduces its maximum carrying capacity by a very large factor, by forcing much longer intervals between trains at the two different speeds.

Japanese systems are often more expensive than their counterparts, because they run on dedicated elevated guideways, avoid traffic crossings and incorporate disaster monitoring systems. The largest part of Japan's cost is for boring tunnels through mountains, as was also true in Taiwan.

In France, the cost of construction (which was €10 million/km (US$15.1 million/km) for LGV Est) is minimized by adopting steeper grades rather than building tunnels and viaducts. However, in mountainous Switzerland, tunnels are inevitable. Because the lines are dedicated to passengers, gradients of 3.5%, rather than the previous maximum of 1–1.5% for mixed traffic, are used. More expensive land may be required in order to minimize curves. This increases speed, reduces construction costs and lowers operating and maintenance costs. In other countries high-speed rail was built without those economies so that the railway can also support other traffic, such as freight.

Experience has shown however, that running trains of significantly different speeds on one line substantially decreases capacity. As a result, mixed-traffic lines usually reserve daytime for high-speed trains and run freight at night.

While commercial high-speed trains have lower maximum speeds than jet aircraft, they offer shorter total trip times than air travel for short distances. They typically connect city centre rail stations to each other, while air transport connects airports that are typically farther from city centres.

High-speed rail (HSR) is best suited for journeys of 1 to 4½ hours (about 150–900 km or 93–559 mi), for which the train can beat air and car trip time.[citation needed] For trips under about 700 km (430 mi), the process of checking in and going through airport security, as well as traveling to and from the airport, makes the total air journey time equal to or slower than HSR.[citation needed] European authorities treat HSR as competitive with passenger air for HSR trips under 4½ hours.[36]

HSR eliminated most air transport from between Paris-Brussels, Cologne-Frankfurt, Madrid-Barcelona, Nanjing-Wuhan, Chongqing-Chengdu,[37] Tokyo-Nagoya, Tokyo-Sendai and Tokyo-Niigata. China Southern Airlines, China's largest airline, expects the construction of China's high-speed railway network to impact[clarification needed] 25% of its route network in the coming years.[38]

European data indicate that air traffic is more sensitive than road traffic (car and bus) to competition from HSR, at least on journeys of 400 km (249 mi) and more – perhaps because cars and buses are far more flexible than planes. TGV Sud-Est reduced the travel time Paris–Lyon from almost four to about two hours. Market share rose from 40 to 72%. Air and road market shares shrunk from 31 to 7% and from 29 to 21%, respectively. On the Madrid–Sevilla link, the AVE connection increased share from 16 to 52%; air traffic shrunk from 40 to 13%; road traffic from 44 to 36%, hence the rail market amounted to 80% of combined rail and air traffic.[39] This figure increased to 89% in 2009, according to Spanish rail operator RENFE.[40]

According to Peter Jorritsma, the rail market share s, as compared to planes, can be computed approximately as a function of the travelling time in minutes t by the formula[41]

According to this formula, a journey time of three hours yields 65% market share. However, market shares are also influenced by ticket prices.

Travel by rail is more competitive in areas of higher population density or where gasoline is expensive, because conventional trains are more fuel-efficient than cars when ridership is high, similar to other forms of mass transit. Very few high-speed trains consume diesel or other fossil fuels but the power stations that provide electric trains with power can consume fossil fuels. In Japan and France, with very extensive high-speed rail networks, a large proportion of electricity comes from nuclear power.[42] On the Eurostar, which primarily runs off the French grid, emissions from travelling by train from London to Paris are 90% lower than by flying.[43] Even using electricity generated from coal or oil, high-speed trains are significantly more fuel-efficient per passenger per kilometre traveled than the typical automobile because of economies of scale in generator technology[44] as well as lower air friction at the same speed. Rail networks, like highways, require large fixed capital investments and thus require a blend of high density and government investment to be competitive against existing capital infrastructure.[citation needed]

High-speed rail can accommodate more passengers at far higher speeds than automobiles. Generally, the longer the journey, the better the time advantage of rail over road if going to the same destination. However, high-speed rail can be competitive with cars on shorter distances, 0–150 kilometres (0–90 mi), for example for commuting, given road congestion or expensive parking fees.

Moreover, typical passenger rail carries 2.83 times as many passengers per hour per metre width as a road. A typical capacity is the Eurostar, which provides capacity for 12 trains per hour and 800 passengers per train, totaling 9,600 passengers per hour in each direction. By contrast, the Highway Capacity Manual gives a maximum capacity of 2,250 passenger cars per hour per lane, excluding other vehicles. Assuming an average vehicle occupancy of 1.57 people.[45] A standard twin track railway has a typical capacity 13% greater than a 6-lane highway (3 lanes each way),[citation needed] while requiring only 40% of the land (1.0/3.0 versus 2.5/7.5 hectares per kilometre of direct/indirect land consumption).[citation needed] The Tokaido Shinkansen line in Japan, has a much higher ratio (with as many as 20,000 passengers per hour per direction). Similarly commuter roads tend to carry fewer than 1.57 persons per vehicle (Washington State Department of Transportation, for instance, uses 1.2 persons per vehicle) during commute times.

Although air transit moves at higher speeds, its total time to destination can be increased by check-in, baggage handling, security and boarding. These procedures also add cost to air travel.[46] Trains are preferred in shorter, mid range distances since rail stations are typically closer to urban centers than airports.[47] Likewise, air travel needs longer distances to have a speed advantage after accounting for both processing time and travel to the airport.

Rail travel also requires less weather dependency than air travel. A well designed and operated rail system can only be affected by severe weather conditions, such as heavy snow, heavy fog, and major storm. Flights however, generally face cancellations or delays under less severe conditions.[citation needed] High-speed trains also have comfort advantages, since train passengers are allowed to move freely about the train at any point in the journey.[48][non-primary source needed] The seats are also less subject to weight restrictions than on planes, and as such may have more padding and legroom.[citation needed] Technology advances such as continuously welded rail have minimized the vibration found on slower railways, while air travel remains affected by turbulence when adverse wind conditions arise.[citation needed] Trains can also accommodate intermediate stops at lower time and energetic costs than planes, though this applies less to HSR than to the slower conventional trains.

HSR is much simpler to control due to its predictable course. High-speed rail systems reduce (but do not eliminate)[49][50] collisions with automobiles or people, by using non-grade level track and eliminating grade-level crossings.

High-speed rail is one of the safest modes of transportation. The first high-speed rail network, the Japanese Shinkansen has not had any fatal accidents involving passengers since it began operating in 1964.[51]

Notable major accidents involving high-speed trains include the following.

In 1998, after over thirty years of high-speed rail operations worldwide without fatal accidents, the Eschede accident occurred in Germany: a poorly designed ICE 1 wheel broke at 200 km/h (124 mph) near Eschede, resulting in the derailment and destruction of almost the entire full set of 16 cars and the subsequent death toll of 101 people.[52][53]

On 23 July 2011, 13 years after the Eschede train accident, a Chinese CRH2 traveling at 100 km/h (62 mph) collided with a CRH1 which was stopped on a viaduct in the suburbs of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China. The two trains derailed, and four cars fell off the viaduct. 40 people were killed, at least 192 were injured, 12 of which were severe injuries.[54]

The disaster led to a number of changes in management and exploitation of high-speed rail in China. Despite the fact that high speed was not a factor in the accident, one of the major changes was the lowering by 50 km/h (31 mph) of all maximum speeds in China HST, 350 km/h (217 mph) becoming 300, 250 km/h (155 mph) becoming 200, and 200 km/h (124 mph) becoming 160.[55][56]

In July 2013, a high-speed train in Spain attempted to round a curve which had a speed limit of 80 km/h (50 mph) at 190 km/h (120 mph), leading to 78 fatalities.[57] Normally high-speed rail has automatic speed limiting restrictions, but this track section is a conventional section and in this case the automatic speed limit was disabled several kilometers before the station.[citation needed] Two days after the accident, the driver was provisionally charged with homicide by negligence. This is the first accident that occurred with a Spanish high-speed train, but it occurred in a section that was not high speed.[58]

Since the 1955 record, France has nearly continuously held the absolute world speed record. The latest record is held by a SNCF TGV POS trainset, which reached 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) in 2007, on the newly constructed LGV Est high-speed line. This run was for proof of concept and engineering, not to test normal passenger service.

Unlike the conventional records, the TGV records have been made by heavily tuned trains, modified from commercial service trains.

The China Railways G/1276/7-G1278/5 Harbin-Wuhan train (2446 km, 14 1/2 hours), which began service on December 10, 2014, became the longest high-speed rail service in the world.[62] It overtook the G1202 Harbin-Shanghai (2421 km, 12 hours), which had set the previous record on December 28, 2012.[62]

The early target areas, identified by France, Japan, Spain, and the U.S., were between pairs of large cities. In France, this was Paris–Lyon, in Japan, Tokyo–Osaka, in Spain, Madrid–Seville (then Barcelona). In European countries, South Korea and Japan, dense networks of city subways and railways provide connections with high-speed rail lines.

China has the largest network of high-speed railways in the world and in 2013 it encompassed 10,000 km of high-speed rail.[63][64] According to Railway Gazette, the trains between Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou East have the fastest average operating speed in the world at 283.7 km/h (176.3 mph) as of August 2013[update].[65]

Taiwan High Speed Rail is a high-speed rail system that has only one line. It is approximately 345 km (214 mi) long, along the west coast of Taiwan from the national capital Taipei to the southern city of Kaohsiung. The construction was managed by Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation and the total cost of the project was US$18 billion. The private company operates the line fully, and the system is based primarily on Japan's Shinkansen technology.

Eight initial stations were built during the construction of the High Speed Rail system: Taipei, Banqiao, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.[68]

Since its opening in 2004, KTX has transferred over 360 million passengers until April 2013, accounting to one South Korean using it seven times. For any transportation involving travel above 300 km (186 mi), the KTX secured a market share of 57% over other modes of transport, which is by far the largest.[69]

Other target areas include freight lines, such as the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia, which would allow 3 day Far East to Europe service for freight, potentially fitting in between the months by ship and hours by air.

Market segmentation has principally focused on the business travel market. The French original focus on business travelers is reflected by the early design of the TGV trains. Pleasure travel was a secondary market; now many of the French extensions connect with vacation beaches on the Atlantic and Mediterranean, as well as major amusement parks and also the ski resorts in France and Switzerland. Friday evenings are the peak time for TGVs (train à grande vitesse).[74] The system lowered prices on long distance travel to compete more effectively with air services, and as a result some cities within an hour of Paris by TGV have become commuter communities, increasing the market while restructuring land use.[75]

On the Paris – Lyon service, the number of passengers grew sufficiently to justify the introduction of double-decker coaches. Later high-speed rail lines, such as the LGV Atlantique, the LGV Est, and most high-speed lines in France, were designed as feeder routes branching into conventional rail lines, serving a larger number of medium-sized cities.

During the 1920s and '30s, Italy was one of the first countries to develop the technology for high-speed rail. The country constructed the Direttissime railways connecting major cities on dedicated electrified high-speed track (although not as high-speed as would nowadays be called high-speed rail) and developed the fast ETR 200 trainset. After the Second World War and the fall of the fascist regime, interest in high-speed rail dwindled, with the successive governments considering it too costly and developing the tilting Pendolino, to run at medium-high speed (up to 250 km/h (160 mph)) on conventional lines, instead. The only exception was the Direttissima between Florence and Rome, but it was not conceived to be part of a high-speed line on large scale.[citation needed]

A true dedicated high-speed rail network was developed during the 80s and the 1990s, and in 2010 1,000 km (621 mi) of high-speed rail were fully operational. Frecciarossa services are operated with ETR 500 non-tilting trains at 25kVAC, 50 Hz power. The operational speed of the service is of 300 km/h (186 mph). ETR1000 trainsets are currently under construction and were developed by the consortium formed by AnsaldoBreda and Bombardier. Based on the Bombardier Zefiro trainset, it will operate up to 360 km/h (224 mph) on the existing high-speed rail system.[76]

Over 100 million passengers used the Frecciarossa from the service introduction and the first months of 2012.[77] Italian high-speed services are recording profits, encouraging Trenitalia to plan major investments[which?] and to cede a large part of local and regional services to other operators ( like Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori and Trenord) and focusing efforts on high-speed and long-distance services (also through the medium-speed Frecciargento, Frecciabianca and InterCity services, which run on conventional lines).[78]

Spain has built an extensive high-speed rail network, 3,100 km (1,926 mi) (2013), the largest in Europe. It uses standard gauge in opposite to the Iberian gauge used in the most of the national railway network, meaning that the high-speed railways are separated and has almost only high-speed trains, no local trains and no freight. This network is from 2013 connected to the French network, with direct trains Paris-Barcelona.

High-speed north–south freight lines in Switzerland are under construction, avoiding slow mountainous truck traffic, and lowering labour costs. The new lines, in particular the Gotthard Base Tunnel, are built for 250 km/h (155 mph). But the short high-speed parts and the mix with freight will lower the average speeds. The limited size of the country gives fairly short domestic travel times anyway.

The construction of three separate high-speed lines from Ankara to Istanbul, Konya and Sivas, as well as taking an Ankara–İzmir line to the launch stage, form part of the Turkish Ministry of Transport's strategic aims and targets.[79] Turkey plans to construct a network of high-speed lines in the early part of the 21st century, targeting a 1,500 km (932 mi) network of high-speed lines by 2013 and a 10,000 km (6,214 mi) network by the year 2023.[80]

^Rabinovitch, Simon (27 October 2011). "China’s high-speed rail plans falter". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 November 2012. The country’s first bullet train only started running in 2007 but within four years China had developed the world’s largest high-speed network.